In search of 'Petco Park power,' Padres draft 1B Allan Dykstra

Wake Forest alum Allan Dykstra has shown good power and a selective approach at the plate. The Rancho Bernardo High grad was taken by the Padres with the 23rd pick in the first round last year.
— Courtesy of Wake Forest

Wake Forest alum Allan Dykstra has shown good power and a selective approach at the plate. The Rancho Bernardo High grad was taken by the Padres with the 23rd pick in the first round last year.
/ Courtesy of Wake Forest

If things work out right for the Padres, there will be a local logjam at first base in two or three years.

The Padres Thursday used their first pick of the 2008 draft to stock a position already manned by their best player.

Allan Dykstra, who graduated from Rancho Bernardo High before going to Wake Forest University, was selected by the Padres with the 23rd pick of the first round.

Dykstra plays first base, as does Eastlake High alum Adrian Gonzalez, who is signed at least through 2010 and leads the National League with 55 RBI while tying for third with 17 homers.

"That was something I did look into," an elated Dykstra said Thursday night while discussing his future. "It's still a couple of years away ... maybe we can play on the same team. time. I'll move."

Maybe not.

"He's a big man and most likely limited to first base," said Grady Fuson, the Padres vice president of scouting and player development.

Dykstra is big and strong -- a perfect speciman for a draft that Fuson said "put some offense in the system."

Breaking from recent history, the Padres drafted position players with the seven picks they had through the first four rounds.

"It was a very offensive draft day," Fuson said.

Dykstra, 21, a left-handed hitter, is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds and was rated as perhaps having the most raw power in this year's draft.

In addition to batting .323 with 16 homers and 50 RBI in 55 games for Wake Forest this season, Dykstra set a single-season school record with 62 walks. He also hit by pitches 14 times this season and 42 times over three years.

Dykstra has been known to crowd the plate and dive into pitches.

"He's a strong kid with an unbelievable eye at the plate," said Bill Gayton, the Padres' director of scouting. Padres General Manager Kevin Towers likened Dykstra to Adam Dunn -- "he has that type of raw power."

Dykstra, however, might not have been the player the Padres were targeting.

He was drafted one pick after the Mets selected South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens -- a player who keenly interested the Padres.

"We like the player we got," said Fuson when asked about Havens. "But our board got wiped out pretty good."

With their second pick -- the 42nd overall -- the Padres drafted outfielder/first baseman Jaff Decker, who played for Sunrise Mountain High near the Padres' spring training base in Peoria, Ariz. The Padres' third pick -- No. 46 -- was Logan Forsythe, a third baseman from the University of Arkansas.

Both those picks were compensation picks following the first round for loss of free agents.

Decker, 18, also a left-handed hitter, is 5-10 and 170 pounds. He hit .565 this season with 17 homers and 53 RBI in 85 at-bats and was considered one of the top high school hitters in the draft. He is also a left-handed pitcher with a low-90s fastball. Arizona State has offered him a scholarship with a chance to hit and pitch.